Logging in

Wednesday

Aug 20, 2014 at 11:00 PM

MOUNTAIN HOUSE – With a hazy view of the sun peeking over the Sierra to the east and the glistening white windmills spinning atop the hills to the west, Jeff Perez spent just a moment enjoying the tranquility of Wednesday’s early morning sunrise.

Joe Goldeen/Record Staff Writer

MOUNTAIN HOUSE – With a hazy view of the sun peeking over the Sierra to the east and the glistening white windmills spinning atop the hills to the west, Jeff Perez spent just a moment enjoying the tranquility of Wednesday’s early morning sunrise.

“So far, it’s calm. But we’ll see when the students get here,” said Perez, head custodian at Mountain House High School. It was 30 minutes before the first class began on opening day of San Joaquin County’s newest — and arguably most spectacular — high school, and Perez had to run off to ensure everything was ready on his watch.

Six minutes later, the first of what would become a wave of more than 500 mostly excited but all anxious 14- and 15-year-olds would be arriving.

“I had a hard time sleeping, because it’s scary. I didn’t know what it would be like. It’s a brand new school,” said sophomore Cher Lin, 15, the first student on campus Wednesday, as she wheeled her cello case up to the front doors.

She was joined by her brother Chet, 13, an eighth-grader signed up to take a 7 a.m. math class at the new high school operated by the Lammersville Unified School District. This year, the school will serve only freshman and sophomores. Juniors and seniors will be added in the next school year.

A minute later, sophomore Julie Trinh, 14, came walking up to the front doors.

“I think it looks really nice — a lot nicer than Kimball,” said Trinh, referring to her previous school, John C. Kimball High, that neighboring Tracy Unified opened a mere five years ago this month.

“This looks like a college campus. It’s definitely going to be different,” Trinh said, referring to both the sparkling new facility and the shiny new Google laptop computer every student has been issued.

“I like learning from textbooks. I hope the Chromebooks are going to be just as effective,” she said.

Mountain House High School has a lot riding on its reliance on technology. The modern classrooms equipped with smart boards and wireless projectors are no longer lined with bookshelves. The hallways are free of lockers. There is no need. Only in a few cases are textbooks being used.

“Teachers are going to teach using blended learning and Internet-based curriculum, which we believe will help the kids be prepared for college and career-readiness and meet the standards of the Common Core and 21st century education,” Lammersville Superintendent Kirk Nicholas said.

“Education is transforming very quickly, and technology is no longer an interesting thing to capture kids’ attention. It is the vehicle to deliver curriculum and engage them on levels that the old, traditional model can’t reach,” Nicholas said.

Teachers, he said, will continue to lead activities and facilitate learning, but they have all undergone training on this shift in approaches and are “very excited about being on the cutting edge of this transitional system. It’s just a different way we live now.”

Special education teacher Angela Calabro, a graduate of Stockton’s Franklin High whose mother, Mary Cortez, teaches science there, was just as excited as the students on opening day.

“I’m freaking out because I can’t log into the attendance list,” Calabro said, about 30 minutes before her first students were scheduled to arrive. She figured it was just a small glitch with a simple solution.

Parents were equally jazzed about the new school and what it means for the county’s newest community.

“This is like a dream come true. It’s a state-of-the-art high school. It’s just great for the community I’ve lived in for 11 years. They’ve been talking about it for years and now — Wow! I don’t have to move out of Mountain House. I can stay here for my kids,” said Eve Low, one of the planned community’s original residents.

“It gives us a sense of belonging that finally we have a high school of our own. We don’t have to go to Tracy to share a high school,” Low said.

In fact, Nicholas, the superintendent, called it “the centerpiece of our community.”

Another Mountain House parent with seven children whose oldest will start high school next year was without a doubt anticipating opening day more than anybody else.

“We’ve worked so hard over the past year to make this go off without a hitch. We’re really excited,” said the parent, Ben Fobert, who was named the school’s principal last year.

“This community was designed for this day. The fact that parents are not driving on the freeway to get their kids to high school. The flow and design of the campus is so that kids can feel proud about where they’re going to school,” Fobert said.

Even the entrance to the school is like nothing the students have seen before. It has the appearance of a finer hotel lobby, with high ceilings, comfortable seating areas and a large, curved reception desk.